EP Review/ Lofi : West Wickhams’ ‘Sakura’
West Wickhams is an indie artist who creates dynamic ambiences. Each composition is a flighty exploration of a feeling, or a state mind. His songs form where concept meets art and aesthetic. The result is such a fresh, crisp sonic breeze that you don’t encounter often. It’s not the same old, tired interpretations of themes. Feels youthful, new and unique.
His latest release is ‘Sakura’, an EP that especially captures themes through a filter of the cherry blossom phenomena. Imagine you’re seeing the Japanese Sakura for the first time. That elation, love, soft stimulation, color, feeling, and energy. That’s the state of mind that he brings to these tracks. Rosy, new, and excited. And it shows.
The EP opens with ‘Up to the Old Tricks’. Glistening basslines, luminous resonance, drifting riffs, and faint vocals. They create glassy images, turnstile motifs, and a spectacular daze that keep drawing you in deeper. It’s surreal, spell-binding, and elegantly designed. ‘Ice Block’ forms with an experimental beat line. It scatters and converges with an emphatic flow. Ambient melodies swirl around it, drift past as if in a nonchalant spell. A complementing contrast that is fun to flow with and see where it goes.
‘As the Camera Shuts’ is made up with oriental motifs. Tingling textures and glassy sounds create a room of serenity and melodic meditation. ‘EQ the Viper’ is a dark crawl, active and ambiguous. It curls and curdles, going deeper into a single point. The layers that form are not musical but cerebral. Playing with perception, illusions, and perspectives, the artist has us going in circles.
The EP ends with ‘Save Yourselves’, a track that is contemplative. The melodies are luminous, but they seem to be reaching for a thought, feeling or idea. A sense of resignation plays out, but it’s soft, patient, slow, and full of that hope. The tracks take on so many forms, an explorative collection that depicts the artist’s ethos perfectly. West Wickhams has a way of projecting himself and his mind’s work honestly and authentically. There’s no pretense there. Just a sense of self that unravels the world. Listen Now!
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The album is available for streaming on popular sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music!
You can listen to ‘Sakura’ by West Wickhams here -
